5 flood insurance claims·$7,347 paid·5 federal flood & hurricane disasters
Share of the whole county outline, rivers and lakes included; parts FEMA hasn’t mapped count as zero.
Shaded areas are FEMA’s mapped flood hazard zones in and around Worth County, Iowa. Zoomed out they are simplified; at street level the map switches to FEMA’s exact layer. Tap anywhere to check that spot, or search an address above.
Flash flooding from summer thunderstorms dominates the flood risk in Worth County, Iowa. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database records 29 flash flood events alongside 19 general flood events.
Heavy rainfall events frequently result from slow-moving or training storms developing along stationary boundaries across northern Iowa. For example, a stalled warm front produced 3 to 4 inches of rain on June 22, 2024, causing road closures. Similarly, training storms along a stationary boundary on August 27, 2021, brought heavy rain and flooding to the area.
Historically, federal flood insurance claims in the county have been concentrated in high-risk areas, with FEMA data showing 5 claims in Zone A averaging $3,674 per payout and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Homeowners and real estate agents with properties located within Zone A or near low-lying areas susceptible to rapid storm runoff should pay the closest attention to these flood risks.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 1 inches.
Drawn to scale against an 80-inch door. Even a few inches soaks flooring, the bottom of the drywall and anything plugged in near the floor.
Average of the depths reported on claims (zero and implausible values left out); FEMA’s record doesn’t say exactly where each depth was measured. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
The worst year was 2004, with 2 claims and $0 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding.
Bar height is scaled by square root so ordinary years stay visible next to the worst one. NFIP claims by year of loss. Source: OpenFEMA.
45 NOAA storm reports from Worth County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Iowa flood stories →
16 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Jun 16, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Dec 15, 2021 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 12, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2013 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 25, 2008 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 23, 2007 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2004 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
48 since 1996: 29 flash floods and 19 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 22, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 27, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 8, 2018 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 24, 2016 | $10,000 |
| Flood | Jun 13, 2013 | $100,000 |
| Flood | Jun 13, 2013 | $250,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 13, 2013 | $150,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 13, 2013 | $10,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 22, 2024. Heavy rain began late on June 21 and continued into the morning of June 22 as storms persisted along a stalled war front over northern Iowa. A widespread 3-4 inches of rain fell in northern Iowa, resulting in a few road closures across the area. This heavy rain also pushed rivers in northwest Iowa even higher, the catalyst for what would be in some cases catastrophic river flooding in the days to come.
Flash Flood · Aug 27, 2021. A nearly station boundary draped itself across northern Iowa, oriented east-west on the evening of the 27th and allowed isolated supercells and multi cellular storms to initiate and in some cases train/develop over the same area for a number of hours. In total, severe weather (damaging winds, funnel clouds, tornadoes), heavy rain, and flooding occurred. ||The portions of northern Iowa that experienced the severe a…
Flash Flood · Jun 8, 2018. Overall the pattern and antecedent environment were not extremely conducive to severe weather with an environment of around 1000 J/kg and effective shear under 30 kts, but it did not rule out the potential for periods of heavy rainfall. ||High pressure ridging was situated over the SW United States, leaving much of the Upper Midwest along the ring of fire, or northwesterly flow/transition from ridge to trough. A s…
Flash Flood · Aug 24, 2016. A small complex of thunderstorms traveled northeast through Kansas and Nebraska overnight the 22nd into the 23rd, finally arriving early in the afternoon. With instability building with daytime heating, the storms were able to strengthen and grow in spatial coverage as they traversed northwest/northern Iowa. While no severe reports were made with the initial storms, heavy rainfall was reported. Later in the day…
National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.
If a building in Worth County is in a high-risk zone (A or V) and its mortgage comes from a federally regulated or insured lender, or is federally backed, flood insurance is required.
Outside those zones it is optional, and often worth having: from 2014 to 2024 nearly one-third of NFIP claims came from outside the high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area. Since Risk Rating 2.0, NFIP premiums are set for each building, so the only reliable price is a quote: FloodSmart.gov or a local agent.